The Commission establishes sentencing policies and practices for the federal courts. Each year, the Commission reviews and refines these policies in light of congressional action, decisions from courts of appeals, sentencing-related research, and input from the criminal justice community.

In this section, you can follow the Commission’s work through the amendment cycle as priorities are set, research is performed, testimony is heard, and amendments are adopted.

The Commission collects, analyzes, and disseminates a broad array of information on federal crime and sentencing practices. The Office of Research and Data collects data from documents submitted by the courts in each case in which a defendant is sentenced. From that data, the Commission prepares and disseminates public reports on a wide variety of sentencing issues. The Commission also uses this data in its consulting capacity to the courts, Congress, and the Executive Branch.

Explore our research and data reports below or download our datafiles and perform your own analysis.

Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics

(October 2016) There were 181 cases involving an organizational offender reported to the Commission in fiscal year 2015. These offenders can include corporations, partnerships, pension funds, and non-profits. The most common offense involved in these cases was environmental crime.

As of March 2016, there were 195,676 offenders incarcerated in the Bureau of Prisons. Of these offenders, 172,018 are serving sentences for a federal conviction, most commonly for drug offenses (48.2%). Half of offenders in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (50.2%) were sentenced to more than ten years...

(September 2016) The number of federal offenders whose most serious offense was simple drug possession increased nearly 400 percent during the six-year period between fiscal years 2008 and 2013. A change of this magnitude over a relatively short period of time triggered further investigation into these cases using data on offender and offense characteristics routinely collected by the United States Sentencing Commission, as well as additional data collected specifically for this project.

(March 2016) This report provides a broad overview of key findings from the United States Sentencing Commission’s study of recidivism of federal offenders. The Commission studied offenders who were either released from federal prison after serving a sentence of imprisonment or placed on a term of probation in 2005. In the future, the Commission will release additional publications discussing specific topics concerning recidivism of federal offenders.

(February 2016) This report examines sentence reductions for offenders who cooperate with the government in its efforts to investigate or prosecute others. Offenders can receive credit for their “substantial assistance” in at least two ways; at the time of sentencing (USSG §5K1.1 departure motions) and after sentencing (Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b) motions). In both instances, the government must make a motion for a lower sentence.

(April 2016) These reports examine annual federal sentencing statistics from each judicial district, the districts within each judicial circuit, and the districts within each state. Each report compares the statistics from the respective district, circuit, or state to the nation as a whole.

(September 2016) Each quarter, the Commission releases a data report on offenders sentenced during the current fiscal year. The tables and figures in these reports contain preliminary data about selected sentencing issues and are gathered from information submitted by the U.S. Courts.

(October 2016) These reports present data on cases in which a motion for a reduced sentence was considered under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) as a result of amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines, including the 2014 Drug Amendment, 2010 Fair Sentencing Act Amendment, and 2007 Crack Cocaine Amendment.

(October 2016) When possible, the Commission performs prison and sentencing impact assessments as part of its consideration of amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines. The Commission also is often asked to perform prison and sentencing impact assessments for Congress.

(June 2016) This publication presents a broad overview of federal sentencing data for fiscal year 2015. It provides a brief, easy-to-use reference on the types of criminal cases handled by federal courts and the punishments imposed on offenders convicted in those cases.

The Commission's individual datafiles provide information on the sentences imposed in cases involving individuals. In these datafiles the individual is the unit of analysis. These datafiles do not contain information from the Commission's Organizational, Resentencing, or Appeals Databases.

The Commission's organizational datafiles provide information on the sentences imposed in cases involving organizational offenders (i.e., corporations, partnerships, and other entities having a legal existence separate from the individuals having an interest in them).

Commission datafiles that are used in various reports to Congress. These datafiles may contain information collected during a special coding project performed for a particular report and, therefore, will not be available in the Commission's fiscal year datafiles.

(July 2016) This report presents findings of the Commission's multi-year study of statutory and guideline definitions relating to the nature of a defendant’s prior conviction and the impact of such definitions on the relevant statutory and guideline provisions.

(June 2016) This report is submitted to Congress pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(3) regarding the compliance of the federal district courts with the documentation submission requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(1).